An automatic line release mechanism of the type to which the present invention is addressed is disclosed and claimed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,720 dated Dec. 24, 1974. The present invention is an improvement on the device of my earlier patent in that the means responsive to tension in the line and flexure of the rod is much more compact, easily adjustable and received entirely on and within a special hollow rod handle. In my prior patent, the release actuator operated as a free moving, un-strained structural fiber extending along a substantial length of the side of the rod in a location where the adjacent rod fibers are compressed and elongated because of the stress - strain relationship when the rod is alternately bent and straightened.